An essay on the place of Ecclesiasticus in Semitic literature

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B,ble _ AN ESSAY

fccc\e*3».^ ON

THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS
IN SEMITIC LITERATURE

BEING

^f)t inaugural ilecture

DELIVERED BY

D. S. MARGOLIOUTH, M. A.

LAUDIAN PROFESSOR OF ARABIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS / /

1890

[^// rights reserve d^

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS
IN SEMITIC LITERATURE.

Among the many merits of Dr. Hatch's Studies in Biblical Greek,
not the least consists in his having called attention to the interesting
problems connected with the text of Ecclesiasticus, a field into which he
invites coUaborateurs. Those problems are indeed peculiarly interesting.
We have two independent versions in Syriac and in Greek, each made
from a Semitic original ; and the Greek version exists in several different
recensions, embodying progressive revisions by persons who had the
original before them ; and there is a third version in Latin, in a remark-
able dialect, really a farrago of several versions, one of which gives inde-
pendent testimony concerning the original, whether directly or indirectly
obtained. Besides these versions there are many quotations and
reminiscences in the Rabbinical literature, which, if they make little
claim to accuracy, give help and guidance in estimating the other
evidence. Now if the translators had done their work well, we should
have known exactly what Ben-Sira meant, but have had no clue to what
he wrote. As the case stands, they have done their work so badly,
notably the Syrian translator, that there are few verses in which some
scrap of the original does not appear through the versions ; for it
is rare that more than one Hebrew word can be represented in the same
two ways, although the imperfection of the Semitic writing leads to
greater ambiguities than would be possible in a Western document.

A %

4 THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

These materials have never been systematically employed, but still wait
for a critic, although Ben-Sira has more than once been translated into
Hebrew. Indeed, the latest writer on the subject still maintains the
untenable view that the Syriac is not independent, but made from the
Greek, a supposition which would deprive us of the better half of our
critical material. However, the arguments by which the dependence of
the Syriac version has been upheld, whether by the older critics ex-
cerpted in Schleussner's Lexicon to the Septuagint, or by Bretschneider,
or by Fritzsche, or by later writers still, are one and all too weak to
have any influence on the question ; while its independence can be
proved by evidence which is overwhelming, and which any one who
knows how to study those versions will find constantly increase. It
is surprising that among students armed with a reasonably competent
knowledge of Hebrew, Syriac, and Greek, there have ever been two
opinions on this subject ; and we have in favour of the independence-
theory the united vote of two scholars of the very highest competence,
who rarely speak without careful consideration, and are not always
agreed. Professors Noldeke and Lagarde. The case of the Latin version^
is much more difficult, because here a general opinion cannot be passed
on the whole, or even any chapter of it, but each verse has to be referred
separately to its source. And the agreement of the MSS. of which
collations have hitherto been published is so singular, that one might
almost hazard the hypothesis that the original translator had submitted

^ The importance of the Latin version was first seen by Bengel (in Eichhorn's
Bibl. Or. vii. 481), who, however, did not pursue the study of it very far. A very
striking passage is in ix. 7 ['■h TrepiSXeTrov iv pv^ais TroXfwy koX iv Tois eprjfiois avTrjs firj
TrXavo), Lat. nee oberraveris i7i plateis ems, evidently reading nTiama for n'nnna, and
rightly ; see Aboth, ed. Schechter, p. 10. It is noticeable that the Greek Ephraem

(i. 83 c) quotes the verse with this reading : ixrjhe anonXavai iv rah nXareiais avTrjs. The
same confusion is to be found in xlix. 6, where the Greek has ra? o^ovs avTTjs, the Syr.
DESERTA EIUS. The Syr. of ix. 7 is either corrupt, or represents a reading n^naina.
In a large number of places the Latin either agrees with the Syriac against the Greek,
or else exhibits a conflation of the two renderings. The most remarkable additions
are to be found in chaps, i and xxiv. — In this essay the Syriac version will, wherever
possible, be represented by Latin in small capitals ; while the Greek will be quoted
according to the best attested readings.

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 5

his work first, to a better Latinist than himself, to correct his diction,
then to a person possessed of another recension of the Greek, then to
one possessed of the Hebrew ; and had allowed his book to be pub-
lished containing his friends' additions and corrections side by side
with his original copy. Without asserting that such was really the
history of the Vetus Latina, we may regard this hypothesis as giving
a tolerably accurate description of that version as we have it. It contains
much that is of the highest value, and is preserved in no other source ;
still more that is useless and argues a crass ignorance of Greek on the
part of the translator ; and it has suffered badly at the hands of unin-
telligent copyists. When therefore the primary versions are spoken of,
only the Greek and the Syriac have a right to that title ; the Latin
stands midway between a primary and a secondary version ; the other
versions, the Armenian, Aethiopic, Sahidic, and Syro-hexaplaris of the
Greek, with the Arabic of the Syriac, all contribute their mites, though
it is remarkable that the best preserved contributes the least ; but the
basis of any contemplated restoration of Ben-Sira's proverbs must be the
comparison of the Greek with the Syriac version.

This subject, the relation of the versions to the original of Ecclesias-
ticus, was discussed by the present writer in a dissertation to which the
Kennicott Prize was assigned in 1887 by three very eminent Hebraists,
all Professors in this University, and all of them persons who have laid
the writer under great obligations ; and all advised him to publish
his results as soon as he conveniently could. He did not do that,
because he felt that there was some secret about Ecclesiasticus which
had not yet been explained. For although he had collected between
two and three hundred examples of differences between the Greek and
Syriac versions which were explicable by the assumption of Hebrew
words misunderstood, this was no very large portion of fifty-one
chapters; and the number of unexplained passages which remained-
seemed to indicate a flaw in the method. He therefore went through
the versions once more, collecting a further spicilegium of good readings,
and probable explanations of differences, without however making much
real progress. It was only after he had set to work to translate the
book verse by verse into Hebrew that what seems to him to be the
real key revealed itself ; and this with some other observations which

6 THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

occurred to him, seemed of sufficient interest to be worth communicating
in an Inaugural Lecture ^

My lamented colleague, Dr. Edersheim, and I, misled by the very late
date assigned by eminent scholars to the books of the Bible, had worked
under the tacit assumption that the language of Ben-Sira was the
language of the Prophets ; whereas in reality he wrote the language of
the Rabbis. Some early authorities, I now find, state that Ben-Sira
' wrote in the Syriac or vulgar Hebrew of his time,' arguing perhaps from
some of the quotations in Rabbinical literature noticed above ; and this
statement, if limited to ' vulgar Hebrew,' or what may be called New-
Hebrew (which should not be confused with Syriac), is accurate. I had
indeed noticed in Dr. Schechter's Aboth a certain number of phrases
which seemed to throw light on passages in the Greek of Ben-Sira, as^
for example, some in which bta6i]Kr] is used in a difficult sense ; ' re-
member that the covenant of Hell is not showed thee' (xiv. 12); 'the
covenant from the beginning is, thou shalt die the death' (xiv. 17);
'who shall relate works of piety? or who shall endure? for the covenant
is far off' (xvi. 22). In all these passages bLadi]Ki] may well represent
Itil, a New-Hebrew word signifying 'the appointed time' of death,
sufficiently well rendered by btadriKr] in the sense of ' disposition,' but not
in that of 'covenant;' for t/iis htadi^Kri is settled by one party only.
(In the first of these passages the Syriac version confirms this restoration;
in the second it almost confirms it ; in the third it fails.) I was not,
however, prepared to find that Ben-Sira's vocabulary was practically the
vocabulary of Aboth — only enriched with many dialectic words for
which we should search the Rabbinic literature in vain.

One other observation, also, this new study brought ; — not, as it turns
out, a new observation, yet one of which little or no use has hitherto
been made. The stichometry of the book had suggested to some older
scholars that Ben-Sira wrote in metre, and this suggestion has now
amply justified itself. Without presuming to judge Dr. Bickell's doctrine
of Biblical metres, — in which the best scholars allow that there is some

^ The Laudian Professor has to lecture in 'Arabic, Chaldee, and Syriac;' the
present subject perhaps combines the three as well as any could.

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 7

truth, — one may hold that, if the Psahns are metrical, the metres are
such as do not force themselves on the ear, and perhaps can only be felt
to the detriment of the poetry. Moreover, the number of licences which
Dr. Bickell admits, and his arbitrary rejection of the Masoretic tradition,
have exposed his method to grave objections. Far otherwise is the case
with Ben-Sira, who seems to write trimeters and tetrameters with a re-
gularity which scarcely falls behind that of the Greek and Sanskrit poets.
The. foot or unit of which they consist is a trisyllable, of which the middle
syllable is invariably long ; the other two are common, although in most
lines one or more of these syllabae ancipites are regularly short. By
' short ' syllable I mean the vocal sh'wa, all vowels being by the gram-
matical rule long, or else in closed syllables. The variation between
trimeters and tetrameters — for pentameters seem very rarely employed —
perhaps corresponds with the mood of the writer ; the tetrameter being
employed in passages of greater earnestness and solemnity than would
suit the lighter trimeter. The same variation is noticeable in some
Indian philosophical poems, such as the Bhagavadgita, where the
ordinary rhythm is the sloka, but a longer verse is introduced where the
poet's thoughts are too vehement to be compressed within the com-
pass of the former metre. In the classical languages this metre would
be called Bacchic, and much the same licences are admitted as in the
Bacchics of Plautus. In Arabic it is called ' Mutaqarib,' the ' tripping,'
and is a very favourite rhythm ; there is a poem in it of twenty couplets,
addressed by the great poet Mutanabbi to his patron Badr, scarcely
to be surpassed for beauty of thought and elegance of diction. The
Arabic metre, owing to the clear distinction in that language between
short and long vowels, is as superior in regularity to the Hebrew as the
Greek is to the Old Latin. The syllaba anceps is confined to the second
arsis, whereas the first arsis is always short. On the other hand, the last
arsis of the hemistich can be optionally omitted in Arabic, a licence
which in the Hebrew appears to be confined to the first arsis or anacrusis
of the first hemistich. Like most of the Arabic metres, the Hebrew
metre is antithetical, and a faulty or inadequate antithesis is a sure sign
of a corruption or mistranslation.

The inductions by which these results have been reached would
require more words than could be compressed into the time allotted me.

8 THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTIJUS

and shall be reserved for the restoration of Ben-Sira, which I hope may-
be completed before very long. It will there be seen how very trivial
were the corruptions of all the Hebrew copies for the most part; how
much havoc was wrought by the change of a 1 with a "1, a 1 with a
'', and a H with a 3, or the occasional transposition of letters ; how often
the first Greek translator, who was fairly well skilled in New-Hebrew,
has given a word its New- Hebrew sense when the Old- Hebrew was
required ; how constantly the Syrian translator errs in the contrary way,
though even he sometimes applies his knowledge of New-Hebrew on
inappropriate occasions. It will be seen how strongly the metrical
doctrine is supported by the evident padding in the Hebrew — for
padding is not disapproved of by the Orientals as it is by us, but is
regarded by both Indians and Arabs as almost legitimate. The same
metrical doctrine will account for the wealth of vocables called into
service, and for variations even in common words between the Old-
Hebrew and the Aramaic idioms, which would otherwise be difficult
to explain. For the present I will offer two short specimens of my
restoration of Ben-Sira, with brief notes upon them ; and will then
proceed to explain my method a little more fully, and to draw what
I believe to be the right inferences from the phenomena under con-
sideration.

Specimen I. Chap. xii. H, etc.

8. ovK €K8iKr]6Tj(T€TaL iv ayaddis 6 (fjiXos 013113^ y* ^1^. ^^
NGN DOCTUS FIT IN BONIS SUIS AMICUS

(cat ov Kpv^rjaeTM iv KaKois 6 e^^pos "^D?. ^^ rny"13 "IV^

NEQUE CELABITUR IN MALIS SUIS INIMICUS

9. iv aya6ois dvbpos oi ix&po\ avTov iv Xinrj ''"^V? 1 "^^ ^ 'l' 71131533
IN BONIS VIRI INIMICI EIUS IN DOLORE SUNT

Koi iv Tols KaKois Kai 6 (f)i\os 8iax(^pi-<T6r](TeTai '^"?.?. J^l^ '^''J'^?

ET IN MALIS EIUS SEPARATUR AMICUS

10. p.^ TTKTTeva-rjs rw ix^P^ <^o^ ^'^ '"o" alcovn "f^f "*V? I^Sj? ^^

NE CREDIDERIS INIMICO IN AETERNUM

cos yap 6 x<^^K0S lovrai ovtcos tj novrjpia avTov I'^jfl ^ HB'n fnunjJ 3

NAM SICUT AES CORRUMPIT PROXIMUM SUUM

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. g

II, Koi eav raTveivcodrj Ka\ Tropfvrjrai (TvyKeKVCJ)ais PjiBS ^?n j '"^^vn^ D^^

ETIAM SI EXAUDITUR TIBI ET AMBULAT CORAM TE INCLINATUS
iirl(jTr](Tov ttjv "^vx^v crov Koi (pvXa^ai an' airov ^^^9 "^^^i?? ^.? ^ ?'

DA COR TUUM AD TIMENDUM EUM

Koi ear] avra as €Kfiffiaxo>s eaoTrrpov r\pi1p'2 v •"'l'!'^!

ESTO ILLI TAMQUAM REVELANS SECRETUM

Koi yvaxrrf on ovk els TeXos Kariaxre T\r['^^ n?3 N? ^3 Vini

NEQUE POTERIT TE CORRUMPERE ET SCIES FINEM ODI EIUS

Translation.

'A friend is never to seek in prosperity, and an enemy is not hidden in
adversity. In a man's prosperity his enemies diminish in number ; in his ad-
versity it is the friend who severs himself Trust not thine enemy ever, for his
friendship corrodes hke brass; if he humble himself and walk submissively,
take care and beware of him. And thou shalt be to him like the polisher, and
know that he has not ceased corroding.'

Notes.

8 a. eK8iKe7v stands for {i>Ti in Deut. xviii. 19; the reading of MSS. 106 and
253 and some versions, ovk emyvaxTdrjo-eTai,, represents another version of the same
word, which the Syrian translator has interpreted from his own language, in
which jk,>> means ' docuit,' ' instituit.' The reading of MSS. 155 and 248 sk-
^Xrjdrja-eTai Stands for a v. 1. ^j]. Compare iv. 12, xxxix. 3.

8 5. The Greek exdpos and the Syr. [no stand regularly in Ben-Sira for the
Heb. ">y ; this is shown by some remarkable errors, e. g. xxxvii. 3 a irovrjpov
fvdvfirjua, Syr. iNiMicus ET MALUS, Hcb. V"} "1^1 read V"]) IV. On the other hand
<}>i\os, 6 7T\r](Tiov, iToipos in the Gr., and yu*>, iA»* stand in different places for V'),;
xiii. 2 1 vno (jiiXav, Syr. de malo ad malum, Heb. C'y'lD ; xxxvii. 4 iraipos (j)i\ov
MALUS AMICUS, whcrc the first is therefore J?1 ; xix. 1 7 rbv TrXrjalov aov malum for
V"> ; XXV. 9 (}>p6vr](nv jcA^y = J?") (in its less usual sense of ' thought'). A very
curious case is xxxiv. 10 (Gr.) mi Trotijo-ai kuko. kuI ovk enoLTjae, Heb. y"in a?) y"in7,
Syr. ET MALE FACERE AMico NEQUE MALE FECIT, whcrc clcarly J?in7 is translated
twice over.

It seems to me that in this metre the pathach gdniibh counts as an ordinary
vowel.

9 a. ^lys 'diminish in number' (Syriac sense). I suppose the Gr. and Syr.
to have wrongly read "T^^^l; the correction seems required (i) by the antithesis,

B

lO THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

which is wholly lost in the versions, a very flat sentiment being substituted;
(2) by the word-play, which in clause b is very evident. As the assumption that
our instruments are strong enough to restore words mistaken by loth translators
may seem hazardous, I will endeavour to point out cases which are clearer
than this.

(i) XXviil. 3 avdpcoTTOS avQpoinTco (Tvvrrjpe'i opyfjv, kol irapa Kvplov Cv"^^ 'ia(ny, Syr.

similarly. Now we do not all require healing, nor is it heahng which, since we
refuse it to our neighbours, we cannot claim for ourselves ; we all require mercy
or pardon, and it is this with which the text deals. The Hebrew, therefore,
NsnD h^p nin^ }?p^ non ni23 Dnxi? anx should rather have been rendered Ka\
Trapa Kvplov (r]Tei imeUeiav, and asks God for mercy. The same mistake is com-
mitted by the Latin translator in XXXVi. 25 e\ ecmv eVt yXdxra-Tjs avTrjs eXeos Koi
irpavTrjs, SI est litigua curationis, [est] et mitigationis et viisericordiae, where mitigatio
and curatio are, it would seem, two renderings of NSi"iD. The same mistake has
perhaps occurred in i. 18 vyUiav Idaeas = i^Si'^^'i 2^JD, which should have been ren-
dered li/e and ease. The Syrian is here again in error.

(ii) xiv. 2 fiaKapLos ov ov Kareyvo) r] ^vx^i avrov, Koi os ovk errecrev diro rrjs eXTTtSo?

avTov; Syr. beatus vir quem anima sua non contempsit, et cuius omnes ac-
TiONES («o«a»s:^a^ ; read perhaps ^wos^iae) non irritae sunt; Heb. nb^ ''"itJ'X
Y'^n^'D i^SJ ab^) It^a: HDND (Syr. reading Y-\2^ Cl''i'23 ; but the phrase restored
is better, see Payne-Smith s. v. ^.aas). The antithesis in the translation is weak,
or rather does not exist ; we should therefore interpret HDNIS from the New-Hebrew
0X0= DDD ' to languish ;' blessed is he whose soul does not languish, and ivho is not
disappointed in his hopes. This was probably the sense of the Lat. beatus qui non
habuit (tabuit .?) animi sui tristitiam (tristitia ?).

(iii) XXX. Y TTepiyp'ixa^' vlov KaTabearp.ev(T(t rpavpara avrov ' he that Spoils (Theocr.

xiii. 54 with the notes of Ziegler and Fritzsche) his son binds his wounds,' which
we need not prove to be mistranslated. Syr. ' his stripes will be many,' not
much better. ' Will be many ' stands for DVy, hence the hemistich is to be
restored iri^'^?0 ^^t '^ P^-^^j and to be pointed innnn nirv^ |3 pp^p he that
spoils his son vexes hisfaviily, a sentiment of indubitable truth. It is very notice-
able that 2Vy has in New-Hebrew (Syriac) the sense 'to bind,' and in Old-
Hebrew the sense ' to vex ;' whereas n"i"i3n is a New-Hebrew word. The trans-
lator has therefore interpreted each word from the wrong dialect.

(iv) vi. 20 pfj davpdarjs iv epyois ap.apTcoXov, Syr. similarly. Now there is no
harm in marvelling at any strange phenomenon, what we are often cautioned
against is being indignant. Qav/idCetv in Ben-Sira seems to represent "inn ; the
clause is therefore to be restored D'^yt^"! ''tJ'yion "innn i^N, and to be emended

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 1 1

"innn ^N ' be not provoked by,' or ' do not emulate/ A precisely parallel
passage is in Ps. xxxvii. i. — These examples, if they do not render the above
restoration probable, or even plausible, will at least show that it is in accordance
with a regular method.

10 b. 'To rust' in Syriac is l^***./; if we assume the same form JTTlti'n to
have been used by Ben-Sira, the Syriac translation ' corrupts ' in this verse and
in II (5? is at once explained, while in xxix. 13 koL fxf] la>6rjT(o and its gloss els
dnddkeiap also are satisfactorily solved, the Syriac rendering there, 'place it not,'
representing n''{i>n for nTltJTl. Uovrjpia avrov may represent lyi or "iny"i ; the Syr.
eti^At is in favour of the former, and in this case 3 of ntJ>n33 must be pro-
nounced with a sounding sh'wa ; the meaning will be that the clear light of his
enmity becomes concealed like corroding brass. As, however, this figure is a
strange one, it will be better to read iny">, i. e. iriy"i his ' friendship ' (supposing
the Syr. reading to be inyi) ; the ' corroding ' of his friendship is a figure
familiar to us from Horace's 'aerugo mera;' compare the phrase 6/xtX/ay fcd-

TOTvrpov in Aeschylus, and especially kukov be x.'^Xkov tUrjv rpt'/Sw re koI 7rpoo-/3oXais
/xeXa/iTrayj/ff TreXei.

11 a. n|yn^ rightly taken by the Greek as reflexive of n3y ' to humble,'
wrongly by the Syrian as passive of njy ' to hear.' Compare iii. 5.

P)1Q3 seems imitated (and happily) in the Greek (rvyKeKvcf)a)s.

II C. cos eKnefiaxais eaonrpov : I fancy that eaonrpov and )){» of Syr. are both
glosses explaining the difficult word ^)>V^/, properly an Arabic word, signifying
'to poHsh,' especially of a looking-glass; so Shahrastani, p. 233. 10 J-iu.xj l«5
iitls*' iiLll ^. The ordinary New-Hebrew for this would have been p"i?D, as in
Syriac (St. Ephraem, ii. 340 a; Aboth, p. 68 b). The context, however, shows
that the Greek translator rendered it rightly.

II d. The Syriac represents two attempts ; reading first 'n ?D'' N? for 't\ Tb2 N7;
and in the second pointing n?;).

Specimen II. Chap. xvi. 17, etc.

I y. jLi^ e'lTTTjs oTi OTTO Kvpiov Kpy^Tjcrojiat "^'7?; ^. . "yN" P??

NE DIXERIS A FACIE DEI ABSCONDAR

Koi e| v^|Aovs tls fiov (xvyjcrOrjaeTai. ; ■3'^- :!• • ^ '~?'?^

ET IN ALTITUDINE CAELI QUIS MEMINERIT MEI

iv Xaw irXeiovi oi nf} yvcoadci «7t'? ^'' ' '? ;D ^S?-?

ET IN POPULO MAGNO NON AGNOSCAR

B 2

12

THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

tIs yap fj ■>^vxh fiov €V afXiTpr}T(o Kpiaei ; "^^ I^D '^DP? ""^^^ '''?

AUT QUIS EST ANIMA MEA INTER SPIRITUS OMNIUM HOMINUM

1 8. i8ov 6 ovpavos KOI 6 ovpavos tov ovpavov, a^v(Tcros DinO D^DB' ''12^ 0)12^ ][\
ECCE CAELI ET CAELI CAELORUM ET ABYSSUS

Kal yrj aaXevdrjaovrat iv rfj emcTKOTT^ avTov

ET TERRA CUM SUPER EOS APPARET, STANT

19. afia TO. opt] Koi to. OepieKia ttJs yrji
RADICES MONTIUM ET FUNDAMENTA MUNDI
ev T« eTri^\e\j/ai is avTa Tpopco (rvo'creLOVTai
DUM VIDETUR SUPER ILLA, COMMOVENTUR

20. Koi err' avTo'is ov 8iavorj6rj(TeTai Kap8ia
ETIAM EGO NON PONAM IN CORDE
Kai ras obovs avrov tIs ivdvprjOrjaeTat
ET VIAS MEAS QUIS DISCERNET

2 1 . Koi Karaiyis t]v ovk ov/zerat avdpanros
SI PECCAVERO, NON VIDEBIT BIE OCULUS
TO. Be Trkeiova rmv epyav avTov iv anoKpytpOis
SIVE PRAEVARICATUS FUERO IN OMNI LOCO ABSCONDITO, QUIS SCIET

22. epya tiKaioavvrjs Tis dvayyeXel ; "*???"! '''^ '^i^TV ^V?*
T] ris VTrofXivel ; paKpav yap rj diadrjKr] -I?'^ P^^"^ ? "*??_ '?

23. iXarrovpevos Kapdia biavodraL ravra '"'.^^ ^'^P''^, r? "l.PH
DEFICIENTES CORDE LOQUENTUR HAEC

Ka\ dvrjp acjipav Kal 7vkava)p{V05 diavoelrai ficopd fl^tD^ 2tJ'n''_ HDti' tJ'''N1

ET VIR IMPROBUS COGITAT SIC

Translation.

Say not : / s/iaH hide from God, and who shall remember me from above ?
I shall not be known among the multitude ; what is my soul in the wide creation?
Lo the heavejis, the heavens above the heavens, the deep, and the earth shake when He
visits them ; so too the mountains and the foundations of the world, when He looks
upon them, tremble. He will not theft take notice of me, nor will He observe my ways.
No eye beholds my actions, nor spies into my doings in the dark. Who will take
count of acts of righteousness, or promise that the day of death is far off? The un-
reasoning speak so, and the fool thinks such folly.

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 13

Notes.

17 f. nin and nnvi mean 'width/ 'spaciousness/ nlrn^ was the Syrian pointing.

1 8 b. ny»"' was read by the Syrian ll^^!.

19 ^. ^^'' was read by the Syrian ID"".

20. In what follows the Syr. gives the first personal suffix, the Gr. the third ;
it will be seen from the argument that the Syr. is right.

•2\ a. "lyD in Syriac means ' to act,' Trpdrreiv ; no word could correspond better
with ''bbvii of the next line. The Gr. thought of the Old-Heb. nnyo ' a whirl-
wind,' KUTaiyis. The error was natural, the Syr. kept clear of it owing to his
having correct suffixes. He seems to have interpreted the word by bvo in d, or
else to have thought of mo.

P'<ii ' pupil,' read by Gr. as |^''N ' men ' ? Or were py and DIN different
readings? The same variation occurs in xxxvi. 23,

b. "i^.^l was the Gr. reading for "inj). It is difficult to decide between them.

"•^^yo read by the Syr. ''Pyo, a synonym in Old-Heb. of ^J3. Another case
in which one of two 7 has dropped out is in xxix. 4 ttoXXoI ws evpe/ia ivopiaav
Sdvos, Syr. MULTi POPOSCERUNT MUTUUM, Hcb. hI^XK' I^^Jl^n Cli, read by Syr.
'bnvn for i^JNnB^n.

22. This verse is lost in Syr., perhaps owing to the number of lines ending
with "). "^^Pl was read by Gr. as 15'd) or "iSD^ The play seems to render the
restoration probable.

23 3. ■jiKavuip.fvos Kai a(])p(ov are tentative renderings of 1^^'^, pointed also HtiK^.
The rendering of MS. 106 diearpappevos is another suggestion for i^ptJ' 'diverted
from the right,' 'perverse.' Compare xxxv. 17 (Gr.) eKKXlvei iXeypov, Syr. celat
DOCTRiNAM for HDti'JO and iityt^D (so Syr.). A precisely similar case to ours is

xxxv. 18 dXXoTpLOs Ka\ iweprjCpavos, Syr. IMPROBUS, i. C. ^T with V. 1. "IT.

n^L2^ is pointed by Gr. HiD^. The sense of many places is similarly distorted
by n^3p ' grace ' being read ni3b, and rendered ayadd. See one example in xii. 3

ovK earcv dyada tw evdiKexi^ovTi (Is kokci koI tco eXfrjfxoavvijv /jLT) ■)(npi^oniva, Syr. NULLA
EST GRATIA EI QUI HONORAT MALUM, SED QUI lUSTO FACIT NGN PERDIT, Heb. P??

IDnnrp p-ns^ ^ilJ^t<] V^-h h'r^tp^ nup ' there is no grace to him who is liberal to
the wicked, but stingy to the righteous.' Corruptions of Gr. nub, yT\^, p'Ti, of
Syr. ^2^)^ and lenn??.

And now I will trouble you as little as possible with Hebrew, and
endeavour to show what I believe to be the results of these observations.
The critical art possesses no more valuable instrument than metre ;

14 THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

if we examine the triumphs which the critical art has won, we shall
find that metre has been in most cases its weapon. The greatest
achievement in this line which any English scholar ever accomplished,
the restoration of the Digamma to Homer, was only possible to Bentley^
because Homer wrote in metre. The great Grecian, whose recent death
closes the most brilliant period of Greek scholarship in this century,
Prof. Cobet, of Leyden, was enabled, according to his distinguished pupil,
Dr. Rutherford^ to restore the Attic dialect to its original beauty and
exquisiteness, chiefly because one writer of Attic employed metre. The
proof therefore, if it can be satisfactorily given, that Ben-Sira's proverbs
were in metre, will provide them with a measure, a masora, nearly as
good as the masora of the canonical writings, because it will be the
masora with which their author provided them himself.

Where the Syriac version exists, its errors might enable us to a
certain extent to dispense with this aid ; in the illustrations offered
above, the words were mainly restored from a comparison of the versions,
the metrical canon merely helping the order, and giving welcome con-
firmation to the restoration. There remain, however, many verses in the
Greek version, for which there is no Syriac preserved ; just as there are
not a few in the Syriac, to which no Greek corresponds ; and a whole
family of MSS., of which the fullest is that employed for the Complu-
tensian edition, contain additions which the editors speak lightly of as
interpolations, although the uncouth idioms and unintelligible expres-
sions which they exhibit might have suggested that they are the work
of no ordinary interpolator. Really they are all renderings of Hebrew
verses ; rendered, however, so ignorantly that a person who had learned
Hebrew only a little while ought to be able to restore them moderately well,
while now the application of the metrical canon will tell us almost exactly
what Ben-Sira wrote. MS. 248 preserves at xviii. 29 a verse which it says
is on the subject of ' life,' ei? C(iii]v ; the maxim which Ben-Sira uttered on
this important and overwhelming topic is the following : KpetWcoj' Trapp-q-
crCa ev bea-TTOTrj jxovio e'lTrep veKpa Kaphia v€Kp^ avrixeadai, words which are
surely unintelligible, and at any rate have nothing to do with ' life.' Put
into Hebrew they give the following verse : —

m'\n r\72 ^^h no '•i^d * iin^ D'^ns m'^^ I'lt^

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 15

meaning 'a live flea by itself is better than a couple of dead lions;'
words which have something to do with life, and form a witty exaggera-
tion of the better known Salomonic adage ^, When Ben-Sira in a fine
tetrameter says ' the days of a man's life, when many, are a hundred years,'

TT -: - • • ••— ••:

MS. io6 adds the observation, oKoyKJTos h\ eKao-Tov Tracriv rj Koijurjo-i? ' but
the sleep of each is incalculable by all,' words out of which a meaning
can only be evolved with difficulty. Turn them into Hebrew without
alteration, they yield the corresponding tetrameter

T T : - : TV T : • ' •• :

^ I. Uapprjaia is merely a transliteration of 'tt?»'iD; other remarkable cases of this
method occur (see Woods in Studia Biblica, p. 22) ; I will notice one very curious one
from chap, xxiii. 13 mraihivcriav da-vprj fxr) avvedia-rjs to (TTOfia aov (MSS. 55? 248 dnai-
devaiav SpKov); Syr. 'teach not thy mouth folly.' Hebrew ^'S-n« 'jji'in "jm biz. "733
in New-Hebrew means 'obscenity' (Buxtorf, Lex. Rabb.); and the verse 14 d Kal ra
edio-fia (Tov. fKopavdrjs (Syr. 'and thou be despised in thy doctrine') stands for
hizn ^n^H':>^^2^ 'and thou utter an obscene word according to thy custom.' Both
translators wrongly pointed bijn, but gave the word a sense which in Old-Hebrew
it could well bear. The Syr. 'folly' was got from the Old-Hebrew b^i 'fool.' The
Greek davp^, omitted by the Syr., stands for ii^y (ncjy baj), a word inserted out of
habit by some one who thought ^25, 'an instrument of ten strings,' was intended,
usually called iiiriy "ja^, but sometimes bii, and sometimes iittjy separately. The
Greek translator rightly read "ja:, and therefore interpreted itcj? as best he could.
The other Greek rendering, opKov, seems to me to represent a conjecture, miB for
Tiffiy, of some one who thought that, if any numeral was intended, the numeral which
meant 'oath' was the most probable. The same variation occurs in xxxvii. 13.

2. 'Ej/ Bea-TTOTTj stands for pTs^i; read p-i><2 'in a chest' or 'press;' but the
marginal els Cu>r]v represents a better reading D;>n3, which I have adopted.

3. That a"? can represent '2^ is shown by another verse in Ben-Sira, v. 35 pr) 'iuBt,
o)y Xewj/ ev oUa aov, qn^22 2|2 HMPl "?«. Syr. 'be not a dog,' 2^3.

4. The last words are to be rendered, ' which has got hold of a dead lion ; ' the
order seems sufficiently excused by the repetition, topn was read ©sn, and, if I err
not, supposed to be governed by b of noa"?. Thus every letter of the original has its
representation.

^ The Aramaic form is restored for the sake of the metre. This is not gratuitous,
for had there not been so7ne difference of form between this word and the preceding
nJUJ, the translator could not have thought of n:©, 'sleep,' without going out of his
way to err.

1 6 THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

' and all the years have not the same number,' that is, owing to the
uncertainties of the calendar, a man might fancy he had lived a hundred
years, but when he reduced these to days, find that he had lived con-
siderably less — unless indeed the words have a deeper meaning. The
same MS. in xxii. 23 has a verse ov T:epi<ppoviiT4ov yap ael rijs irepLypacfiijs'
ovbe 6av[jLdcnos ttAowios vovv ovk excoy. The second clause is clear enough,
'nor should a brainless man that is rich be admired;' and the rule of
the antithesis shows that the first clause, ' one must not always despise
the circumference,' must have meant something analogous. In New-
Hebrew these words will be "^TH^ ^^^^7 "^^^? ^^ ; which are simply
ignorantly pointed instead of "^i^Hp D?!^? "^^27 t47 ' one must not
despise a learned man who is a beggar,' and the metre confirms this
sense which the antithesis requires. The sentiment is the same as that
of X. 22.

The instruments then to be employed in the reconstruction of Ben-
Sira's verses are the errors of the primary versions, and the metrical
canon by which the result will be tested. One other resource — which,
however, can only occasionally be employed — consists in the plays on
words in which Oriental poets delight. Those who have looked at
Avicenna's introduction to his paraphrase of Aristotle's Poetics will have
observed that he regards these iusi^s verbomm as an important element
in the poetic art, and is accordingly at some pains to classify and divide
them. The probability that any opportunity for a play upon words will
have been seized by the poet will guide us sometimes to select a par-
ticular word out of synonyms for which the Greek has no regular repre-
sentation. In the verse last quoted, ov h'lKaiov h/np-aa-ai uTix^yhv crvveTov,
KoL ov Ka6'i]K€i bo^dcrai TrXovcriov (Lat.) ajiapT(t}k6v, ' it is not meet to despise
a poor man who is prudent, nor to glorify a rich man who is wicked,'
the last two words have regular representatives, and the hemistich, when
compared with the Syriac, may be restored with certainty as

vxD'y '\tyi -Q2^ fc^^i

T T • T •• — : :

where the lusus consists in the fact that "^U^y and V^'^ are written with
the same letters in inverted order. The words ' poor ' and ' prudent,'

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 17

however, have no uniform equivalents, and here the probability of a
similar play guides us to restore

(trimeter procatalectic). — There are, however, places where the play is
rather more elaborate, and is quite concealed in both versions. In chap,
xxii. 3 it is said that the fool is like dirt in the streets, ' whoever picks
him up will shake his hand,' where the Syriac has ' whoever sees him.'
' Whoever picks him up ' is clearly the more correct of these readings ;
but we should have expected ' will wipe his hand,' and this was probably
the meaning of the original

TT • •• - T

the New-Hebrew verb 7^3 meaning ' to pick up,' except when applied
to the hand, when it means 'to wash;' the Rabbinic 'washing of the
hands,' alluded to in the New Testament, being technically called jn^'^tp^
D"^!"^. Both translators pointed 71^^ ' will shake,' or ' fling.' We might
represent the hemistich in Latin by qiiicunque levat eum lavat manus.
If it be objected that the Greek translator would not have rendered the
same word rightly and wrongly in the same verse, no one acquainted
with the LXX will assign much force to this objection.

There will be^ I fancy, one more confirmation of my method, though
it may seem a strange one. It is that there is likely to be a residue
of verses which I shall be unable to solve. There is, e. g.^ a verse in the
Greek (iii. 26), 'he that loveth danger shall perish therein,' to which
there corresponds in the Syriac, ' he that loveth good shall attain unto
it,' of which hitherto I have been unable to give any plausible account.
I do not yet despair, being still very far from the end of my studies
in Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic ; and there are many other subjects
which are nearly as necessary to the restorer of Ben-Sira. But if, when
the work seems sufficiently matured to offer to the public, I find that
there is a residue of unexplained texts, I shall not think that these prove
the method is wrong, but, on the whole, indicate that it is right. If any
one were to forge a play of Aristophanes, should he have ransacked
all Greek literature for fragments, should he be so well-versed in the
Attic dialect that no one could find him in error, should he have mas-

c

1 8 THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

tered all the elaborate technicalities of the Attic theatre, but forget to
compose some hopelessly corrupt passages, some proverbs and phrases
of unknown origin, some words of obscure etymon, not found in the
dictionary, his work would not pass for genuine a single month. — But
although I expect to have not a few of those defeats which are as good as
victories, yet I hope to be able to enrich the New-Hebrew vocabulary
with many vocables from obvious sources, which, however, must not
be drawn upon without a warrant. Some of these, with the grounds for
believing them to have existed, have been given in the above selections.
It is curious, but on the whole natural, that the Greek translator should
show much greater familiarity with the New-Hebrew dialect than the
Syrian translator shows. Now the vocabulary which will result from
the restoration of Ben-Sira will be remarkable both in quantity and
quality. In quantity^ because his control over the vocabulary of the dia-
lects will appear almost unlimited. For ' light,' e. g., he has not only the
Old-Hebrew "^Tt^, but also the Chaldee "^HD, confused by both trans-
lators with the Hebrew "^TXl 'a. river,' and also with the New- Hebrew
(Arabic) ^iPfJ 'day;' the following verses illustrate from every point of
view both Ben-Sira's poetical art and language, and his translators'
tentative helplessness (xxxvi. 7 Gr.)

X ■ T T T

mi22r2 nil!) "inr^si

V T ■ T T - T :

' Wherefore differs day from day, when all the light of the year is from
the sun ? ' — I regard it as a safe canon that not only the innovations
in language which Ben-Sira can be shown to have employed are to
be restored to the New-Hebrew vocabulary, but also those words which
the translators found in their copies, and assigned a meaning to, although
they were not the words of Ben-Sira. There is a trimeter which can,
I fancy, be restored with certainty, containing good advice ; (iv. 30) ' be
not as a lion in thy house, nor capricious with thy servants ; ' the Syrian
renders the second clause 'nor angry and terrible in thy works,'
showing by the double rendering that he is in some embarrassment. It
seems to me that the antithesis requires the mention of some wild beast

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 19

in the second clause, to correspond with the lion in the first clause ; the
verse should perhaps be restored

' Nor as a bear among thy servants ;' the Greek and the first rendering
of the Syriac stand for ^"1.2, a very familiar word in Arabic and N€w
Syriac, meaning ' morose ; ' while the second Syriac rendering is (for a
dittography 135 • I believe that all these must have been real words,
existing either in literature or conversation, for the translators were not
comparative philologers who could look out kindred roots in pentaglot
lexicons, but must have relied on oral information.

What is more surprising, however, than the number of the vocables
is the fact that Ben-Sira has a developed philosophical vocabulary, of
which not even the beginnings exist in Old-Hebrew. In the remarkable
account of man in chap, xvii, MS. 248 has some verses which are con-
firmed by the great authority of the Vetus Latina, but are wanting in
most other MSS. and versions. Here we read that men were provided
with ' the five kv^pyy\\x.ara of the Lord,' rendered in the Latin inotiiSy in

^ That the supposition of dittographies in the Syriac may not seem strange, I will
venture to quote a passage in which one very clearly occurs ; using for once the form
in which I hope my work may finally appear.

'xviii. 30 [t.r] €v(ppaivov eVt rroWfj Tpv(^fi, S. itidem, sed plurali, Heb. it a niocn "?«
□'jpyn noli gaudere multo luxu; yir]be Trpoa-dedijs avulSoXr] avr^s, h. e. T2?nri b^)
ni35?3, S. paullo mehus NEVE FIAS pauper bis, h.e. D2^v '3 n3?nn bit], scribe hii)
Q3"7!',3 ]'n3?nn neve delectare deliciis; 31 /^ti) yivov nrcoxos a-vfi^oXoKoncov eK 8av€iaiJ.ov,
h.e. na-inn bbi m:t hmfi ■?«, multo melius S. noli fieri pauper et ebrius et con-
TEMPTUS et gloriosus, h.e. naTnr? Vbn bbi ttjn ninn bit, scribe nannD b'bj nj-j n^nn V«
noli fieri pauper eontemptusque et gloriosus ; vides interpretem haesitare
utrum bb'i an b)i scribendum sit, parum perite. naino autem etiam in loco a codd.
106 et 248 servalo (xxii. 6) Ben-Sirae vindicabimus ; ibi enim rrjv Tpo<pi]v exovra et
yavpiap-eva idem vocabulum videntur repraesentare ; hoc autem nainn potest esse,
vix ahud. Kal ovbkv aoi iariv ev fiapa-virTrico, S. itidem plane, Heb. nDl«Q D'3| ^) |'«1,
dum nihil tibi est in loeulis. Adicit cod. 248 earj yap eni^ovXos ttjs Itias Cf^ijs,
XaXrjTOi, h.e. nrjifl ^nmn n^ (j^-jI».) iph ninni, scribe rraniij ^n^^*? niion n^nni
atque opprobrio erit inopia tua. Turn quidem erit, si divitem agis ; sin modeste
vivis, honesta erit. NuUam personam iucundius derisere veteres quam nrcoxa^aCova ;
vide librum v. d. Ottonis Ribbeck, cui titulum "Alazon" fecit.'

C 2

ao THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

the A.V. 'operations,' and a seventh, speech, to interpret his 'operations:'
That the five Ivepyrnxara are the five senses is clear ; but how came they
to be called 'operations'? In this way: the New-Hebrew for sense is
ntlJ^'Jll , a word properly signifying ' motion ' or ' activity,' being derived
from the Sanskrit ragas, the active member of the Indian philosophical
trinity. This name must be applied to ' sense ' in virtue of some philo-
sophical theory, which we might very well seek in India. These verses
are to my mind clearly genuine, for they are tetrameters, and the middle
verse is padded to fill up the measure ^. But if they be interpolated,
there is a verse of undoubted genuineness in which the word "'P^^
'immortal' occurs, a word belonging to a similar region of ideas, and
constructed after a similarly novel pattern, God, the author says (xvii.
30), does not expect too much of man, ' because the son of man is not
immortal,' '^'u^'V , a vocable rendered certain by the error of the Syriac,
' for his thoughts are not man's thoughts,' that is "i^ r ^i from 0^^,
an Arabic word signifying ' knowledge,' but used like the similar I^V"^
in Hebrew to express ' intellect,' — a word, as we have already seen, well-
known to Ben-Sira, and long ago discovered by Hitzig to be the name of
wisdom referred to in the verse (vi. 22), 'Wisdom is like her name and
is not manifest to many,' the meaning of this root in Old-Hebrew being
' to be hidden.' Any one who remembers the troublesome circumlocu-
tions by which the idea 'immortal' is expressed in Old-Hebrew, will
feel that the language has made some advance as a medium for accurate
thinking.

The reconstruction of the verses of Ben-Sira, whether accomplished
by me or by some abler Hebraist, will give us for Hebrew what has
hitherto been wanting, a book of a certain date to serve as a sort of
foundation-stone for the history of the language. Hitherto there has
been no barrier in the way of criticism ; compositions in classical Hebrew
are placed by eminent scholars in the middle of the third century, and

^ xvii. 6 eKTOv Se vovv avro'is i^cop^craro fiepi^av

i3D n:n nnS nDun n>iLiipi

ebcopija-uTo stands for n^n; 130 was saved from corruption by the loss of its n. This
certain clue to the original of ptpiCav will be most helpful in other stray verses
like these.

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 21

some in Middle-Hebrew are assigned to the second ; the argument from
language being often neglected, when theological or anti-theological
interests are concerned. Now to the Greek translation of Ecclesiasticus
there is prefixed a preface in which the translator states his time, place,
and relation to the author ; and that preface is written in so extraordinary
a language that its genuineness can never be disputed. The latest possible
date for the original of Ben-Sira's proverbs is known from that preface
to be not much later than 200 B.C. The foundation-stone will therefore
be situated not quite where we should have wished, but still it will serve
our purpose. If by 200 B.C. the whole Rabbinic farrago with its terms
and phrases and idioms and particles was developed, and was the clas-
sical language of Jerusalem, and the medium for prayer and philo-
sophical and religious instruction and speculation, then between Ben-
Sira and the books of the Old Testament there must lie centuries,
nay, there must lie, in most cases, the deep waters of the Captivity, the
grave of the Old-Hebrew and the old Israel, and the womb of the New-
Hebrew and the new Israel. If Hebrew, like any other language, has a
history, then Isaiah (first or second) must be separated from Ecclesiastes
by a gulf ; but a yet greater gulf must yawn between Ecclesiastes and
Ecclesiasticus ; for in the interval a whole dictionary has been invented,
of philosophical terms, such as we traced above, of logical phrases like

]3UJ"T'3 ' a fortiori,' of legal expressions like t^''!J'in ' to give a daughter
in marriage,' y^V t^l^^ ' to perform a duty,' theosophical expressions like
n^^"^")!!! ' the creation,' ni'l\L''ri 'repentance;' nor have the structure and
grammar of the language experienced less serious alteration ; the sound-
ing Hithpael form, almost sporadic in Old-Hebrew, now luxuriates ; the
abstract forms T'^J^S and nT'"^i?2 have become familiar and trite ; fresh
conjunctions have been invented to suit the now more complex sentence ;
new uses of prepositions like "^D~7>?, 'because of,' in a trimeter (xiii. 24)
rendered in our version ' riches are good unto him that hath no sin, and
poverty is an evil in the mouth of the ungodly,' but of which the real
meaning seems to have been ' riches are good, because they do not necessi-
tate sin, and poverty is an evil, because it tempts men to transgress^,' — a

I " • - •• i ^ T T : T - \ - V

\

22 THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS

sage maxim, which may have drifted to Ben-Sira from the great storehouse
of the wisdom of antiquity, the Republic of Plato, although even in Semitic
literature it is not difficult to parallel. It may be, if ever Ben-Sira is
properly restored, if ever better scholars condescend to correct the errors
which the first restorer's ignorance will engender, and to supply the
deficiencies which his carelessness will leave, that, while some students
are engaged in bringing down the date of every chapter in the Bible
so late as to leave no room for prophecy and revelation, others will
endeavour to find out how early the professedly post-exilian books can
be put back, so as to account for the divergence between their awkward
Middle-Hebrew, and the rich and eloquent New-Hebrew of Ben-Sira.
However this may be, hypotheses which place any portion of the clas-
sical or Old-Hebrew scriptures between the Middle-Hebrew of Nehe-
miah and the New-Hebrew of Ben-Sira will surely require some recon-
sideration, or at least have to be harmonized in some way with the
history of the language, before they can be unconditionally accepted.
Ben-Sira will have performed excellent service besides, in showing that
the Hebrew poets, like all others who have written what is worth reading,
did not employ a dead and literary dialect, but their own language,
spiced indeed with archaisms, but still their own.

The work of restoring Ben-Sira will then possess some interests
besides those which are merely literary and critical — though these will
be great ; for it is a strange feeling after reading some pages in illustra-
tion of a peculiar saying or expression to find that that saying or expression
never existed ; as when, after studying what the commentators say of
the verse (ix. 17), ' in the hand of craftsmen a work shall be praised,' one
discovers that it meant ' by the wisdom of rulers a kingdom shall be
established.' However, there will be other interests as well — one, that
we shall have a dated document in a language nearer to the mother-
tongue of Christianity, the language of Christ and His Apostles, than any
extant ; for it is not likely that the New-Hebrew made much progress
between the time of Ben-Sira and that of Christ, although doubtless it
made some. Perhaps, therefore^ a deeper study of the New- Hebrew
may here and there throw light on a saying in the Gospels, if Dr. Eders-
heim has here left us anything to glean. Few recognise, moreover, how
deeply the thought of the Gospels is influenced by the proverbs of Ben-

IN SEMITIC LITERATURE. 23

Sira; I have hopes that the restoration may make this somewhat clearer.
In Matthew v. 35 there is a maxim ' make peace with thine enemy
quickly;' this is perhaps only a confirmation of Ecclus. xviii. 20, which
appears in the Greek as 'before judgment examine thyself,' but which
the Syriac shows to have meant 'before judgment beg off,' Ti^intprr,
of which the reflexive sense was misunderstood by the Greek translator.
The maxim in vi. 7 ' make no vain repetitions' is also from Ben-Sira, this
time rightly rendered. I believe the book to have been a kind of
enchiridion Epicteti in those early centuries, and well it would serve such
a purpose. But, in the second place, the history of the Hebrew language,
with its regular development certified by this its latest representative,
may help us to return in some cases to some of the traditional dates of
the Old Testament scriptures ; to save, after Bathgen and Kittel, yet a
few more crumbs of the rich meal on which the ages have been nourished ;
like the man in Homer who preserves through the night some sparks
of the fire which in the day-time blazed upon his hearth :

' Saving the seed of flame that he go not to others to kindle.'

Among the things regarded by Ben-Sira as better than treasures
I do not find one thing, which should perhaps be among them — the
prospect of a work which is likely to occupy some time, to bring many
disappointments and some successes, and in the end to leave the subject
not quite where it was before. Such a treasure I believe I have found
in the task of restoring Ben-Sira ; and it will be all the more grateful
to me, because it will be associated with the names of several persons
whose friendship I regard as the greatest privilege I have enjoyed. Now
living persons must not be mentioned ; but there is no harm in my
naming one, who, to use the language of Seneca, Qnamvis ipse ereptns
sit oculis, tamen ' niulta viri virtus animo, tmdtusque recnrsat gentis
honos! Of all the adopted sons of Oxford there has been no one who
more highly appreciated the honour of a position here than Dr. Eders-
HEIM ; none who had done more to deserve it, or who did more honour
to the University which adopted him. What a master of English style
he was is recognised by all ; I have known those who, after reading his
' Life and Times of the Messiah,' have found all other books lose their
savour. How carefully he worked, how precise and accurate he was in

24 THE PLACE OF ECCLESIASTICUS IN SEMITIC LITERATURE.

his preparations, how exhaustive in his study of all that concerned the
subjects on which he wrote, was known only to those who were his
collaborateurs, or who had opportunities of examining his posthumous
papers and collections. May the noble monument to his memory which
his widow has presented to Exeter College not lie idle, but attract
many to work on the same lines, with like conscientiousness and like
success.

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